VT Halter Marine CEO Boyd E. "Butch" King says that 300 of the company's total permanent work force of about 350 are back at work along with some 50 of the yard's contract workers.

Right now, the shipbuilder is busy with clean-up and repairs, but vessels under construction appear to have come through Hurricane Katrina unscathed. Power has been restored at the company's Moss Point facility and is expected to be soon restored at Pascagoula.

King expects to start calling back more contract workers over the next few weeks and says actual ship construction will start again before the end of this month.